Police issue summonses to driver in fatal accident
BY BRIAN DONAHUE Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - The driver of a vehicle that crashed on Summerhill Road Oct. 6, claiming the life of a 16-year-old backseat passenger, was cited this week for a number of violations, police said yesterday.

Jason Stein, 17, of East Brunswick, was given summonses for speeding, careless driving, operating a vehicle with an excessive number of passengers, and operating a vehicle with an unrestrained passenger, according to East Brunswick Police Lt. William Krause.

Stein was operating the vehicle on a provisional driver's license at the time of the accident. He had four passengers in the vehicle. According to New Jersey law, drivers with a provisional license are permitted to have only one passenger at a time in their vehicle.

Back-seat passenger Dana Centanni, a resident of Middletown's Port Monmouth section, who died in the accident, was not wearing a seat belt, police said.

Krause said he did not have information about whether the other passengers were wearing seat belts.

Another passenger, Lindsay Capatasto, 16, of the Belford section of Middletown, suffered internal injuries and was in fair condition earlier this week at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick.

Stein and two other passengers, both 16- year-old Middletown residents, were hospitalized with minor injuries after the accident but were discharged shortly thereafter.

The accident took place at 8:20 p.m. Oct. 6 when Stein was driving north on Summerhill Road and lost control of the vehicle, a four-door 2003 Toyota, police said. The vehicle slid sideways, struck a curb and then hit a light stanchion at the rear of the Brunswick Square Mall parking lot.

The summonses stem from an investigation being conducted by East Brunswick police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. Krause said the violations will be heard in East Brunswick Municipal Court.